The Peak Grill
Location: Manila, Philippines
“Amazing food and a spectacular view of Manila! The staff was very knowledgeable and proactive about accommodating our allergies!”
@reganh, who manages milk and egg allergies and celiac
Cafe Athena
Location: El Nido, Philippines
“The best dinner I had in the Philippines! Finding gluten-free friendly was not an easy task, but this restaurant was educated and had a lot of options they could help me navigate the menu through. I got the stuffed peppers and a kebab, and it was delicious. The restaurant also sits on the water with a beautiful view so perfect for lunch or sunset dinner.”
@passthetreats, who manages a wheat allergy
Happiness Beach Bar
Location: El Nido, Philippines
“The cutest breakfast cafe in El Nido! The food is fresh and the menu is marked gluten-free. Ended up eating here multiple times on the trip, highly recommend!”
@passthetreats, who manages a wheat allergy
Top of Cebu
Location: Cebu City, Philippines
“This is a restaurant on the top of a mountain in Cebu City. My family and I went without really knowing anything about it, and when we arrived, we saw that there was a bit of a wait, as it was very busy.
While we were waiting we asked to see the chef, but we weren’t sure he would be able to come out because of how many people were there. However, to our surprise, he was able to come out and thoroughly discuss the menu with us, in terms of what would be safe for me and what he recommended. Chef Kai Alo was a surprisingly young chef, but he was also very knowledgeable about food allergies.
After my family and I were seated on a balcony overlooking the entire city, Chef Kai himself came to take our orders, and ensured us that he would have the kitchen staff change their gloves and use clean utensils when preparing our food.
We ended up having a really wonderful meal, and our experience with the kind chef was a large part of that.
The Philippines is actually a country where 99% of people speak English fairly well, meaning it’s also fairly easy to communicate about food allergies when eating out. We stayed there for three weeks, and we ate out basically every meal. There are also a lot of western food chains (McDonalds, KFC, Shakey’s Pizza, and the Filipino counterpart Jollibee) if you want to stick to something more familiar.
In grocery stores, packaged foods and snacks all have English ingredient lists.
The Philippines is a beautiful country, and the food is some of the best I’ve ever had, especially the grilled meats and seafoods. However, I am a little biased, because my parents are both Filipino!”
@mmandanas, who manages peanut, tree nut, and shellfish allergies
